Brick tinting has been a specialised process for a specialised market Brick tinting is used to repair brick wall colours so that when a building extension is constructed the new bricks can be made to match the old bricks. Other applications include the repair of builder's errors where they organise the delivery of incorrectly coloured bricks and the error is only noticed after construction has begun.
The brick tinting process is a highly specialised, labour intensive process and is thus expensive, but is sometimes the only remedy available. This is particularly the case when old structures require extensions, but the clays from which the original bricks were made are no longer available. This matching of colour can be crucial to adding extensions to heritage and national trust structures.
The brick tinting process is applied by coating each brick individually as the base colour of the brick must be taken into account, and the colour of the tint adjusted so as to ensure that the final result will be the desired colour.
Rendering, bagging and painting of bricks has been known for a considerable time but in all cases the final result produces a structure or appearance whereby the brick appears to be coated and the natural texture of the brick or masonry is modified. In some markets this an undesirable effect.
The applicant does not concede that the prior art discussed in the specification forms part of the common general knowledge in the art at the priority date of this application.